Discover

'Clacton-on-Sea' is the largest town on the Tendring Peninsula, in Essex, England and was founded in 1871. It is a seaside resort that used to attract many tourists in the '60s and '70s, but which like other English resorts has been in decline since foreign holidays became fashionable in '70s and '80s making it more of a retirement hotspot these days.
Clacton has a pleasure pier, arcades, a golf course, caravan parks and an airfield. The town and its beaches are still popular with tourists in the summer, and there is an annual entertainment programme including the Clacton carnival and Clacton Airshow, an aerial display involving historic aircraft such as the Lancaster Bomber, Spitfires, helicopters, and the Red Arrows.
Clacton-on-Sea is served by a bustling shopping area with many of the usual national chains represented.
Clacton-on-Sea has two theatres, the West Cliff Theatre and the Princes Theatre. The West Cliff is one of the last theatres is the country to put on an old style summer show.
Clacton used to be home to one of the oldest Butlins sites, but in 1983, it was closed and replaced with the Martello Bay housing estate.
Clacton's population has grown hugely, in 1901 it was 7456, 1991 was 45,065 and today stands at over 53000.
Clacton was once the home of the singer Sade and C.J from The Wildhearts as well as the groups the insane picnic, Spasmodic Caress, The Quivering Tendency and Prince Charles' Forgotten Aspect.
Leeds United and former Ipswich Town midfielder Ian Westlake was born in the town, as well as the lead singer of rock band Interpol, Paul Banks.

Contents

History

Industry

See also

External links

History

Great Clacton was founded by the Celts in c.100BC. There are some vague traces of Romans using the Clacton area as a seaside resort. The name Clacton dates from c.500 AD when the area was settled by Saxons. The original name, Claccingaton, means 'the village of Clacc's people'. The Domesday Book, a census conducted by William the Conqueror, records the village as ''Clachintuna''.
Early village life was dominated by St John's Church which is now the oldest building in Clacton. It has been suggested that smugglers may have used a tunnel from the coast to the Ship Inn to smuggle goods into the country, but this is discounted by serious historians. Nowadays, this area is called Great Clacton.
The modern day Clacton-on-Sea was founded by Peter Bruff in 1871 as a seaside resort. Originally the main means of access was by sea. Ships came and docked at Clacton Pier, which now offers an amusement arcade and many other forms of entertainment. People who wanted to come by road had to go through Great Clacton. In the 1920s, London Road was built to cope with the influx of holidaymakers. Later, in the 1970s, the eastern section of the A120 was opened obviating the need for Clacton visitors to go through Colchester.
In archaeology, Clacton is famous as the eponymous site of the lower Palaeolithic Clactonian industry of flint tool manufacture. "Clactonian" is the name given for the man whose flint tools were found at Clacton from that period.
Stone-age people set up camp, at Clacton (now lost beneath the waves due to coastal erosion). This was in the Interglacial stage (a major division of the Pleistocene epoch, which occurred from 1,600,000 to 10,000 years ago).

Year	History
400,000 B.C.	Clactonian tools, early flake instruments dating back to the early Interglacial stage, get their name from the area.
900 B.C.	The 'Catuvellauni' (Celts) set up a village inland, on site of Great Clacton.
500 A.D.	Saxons under their leader Clacc from whom the town gets its name set up residence, Clacc Inga Ton (the Village of Clacc's People).
1000	The "Claccingtune" a tithe introduced by the Church to contribute two seaman towards a ships crew.
1056	In the Domesday Book, it was recorded that 'Clachintuna' was part of a Manor belonging to the Bishops of London.
1100s	Midsummer Fair established on 29th June, ran for 600 years, until abolished in 1872.
1539	Abbot of St.Osyth's surrendered all Lands to his King. Henry VIII handed over the land to Thomas Cromwell
1539-1545	''Henry VIII'' appointed himself Lord of Manors of Great and Little Clacton and Cann Hall after execution of Thomas Cromwell.
1645-1832	Smugglers Headquarters in Great Clacton, many tunnels are said to exist between St John's church and the Ship Inn as well as other places. One runs from the north side of the church towards St. John's square. Others are reputed to run from the Ship's Inn, Geddy Hall (Home of the Webb family), the Queen's head and at Eaglehurst, a house in Valley Road. The smugglers were a rough lot sometimes taking captive the revenue men while they completed their work of loading cargo from the unguarded beach at Clacton and storing it, ready for "Gentleman" to transport it to London. Clacton Beach was also situated between two noxious marshes Little Clacton to the east and Jaywick to the west.
7th December 1830	Luddites smashed up farm machinery in Local farms. 1,000 locals had to put down the riot.
1911	Archaeologist, J. Hazzledine Warren discovered a wooden spear, dating back some 250,000 years. This is one of the oldest known man-made wooden artifacts found anywhere in the world.

Industry

Before the Industrial Revolution, Clacton's industry mainly consisted of arable farmland. As the industrial revolution spread across the country, farmers in Clacton realized that their equipment was obsolete. A steam powered mill was built in 1867 to replace the windmill, which was eventually demolished in 1918.

See also

★

★ Clactonian Man

★ Colchester

★ Essex

★ Clacton & District Indoor Bowls Club

External links

★ Essex Photos - Clacton

★ Clacton - White's Directory of Essex, 1848

★ Clacton Local History